Don’t you wish we had the kind of world leaders we sometimes find in film? Cinema has a rich history of delivering on-screen, fictional Presidents that you’d not only give your right arm to stand behind, but are often played by some of the most reassuring people on Earth that include Morgan Freeman, Bill Pullman and Harrison Ford (I’m obviously thinking more James Marshall, not Thunderbolt Ross). Similarly, while a lot of English Prime Ministers are seen as chinless mouth pieces, the movies have reliably delivered more charismatic types that tend not to get stuck on a zip lines or still have a connection with the common person.
Well, playing up to this impossible ideal is Heads Of State, Amazon’s latest actioner for its streaming site that not only gives us the latest in a line of action hero Presidents, but even let’s the Prime Minister in on the literal action too under the eye of Hardcore Henry/Nobody director, Ilya Naishuller. Can the bickering duo of John Cena and Idris Elba recapture their chemistry from The Suicide Squad, or will POTUS now stand for Piece Of Trash Unloaded (on) Streaming? Cast your vote.
Despite both the States and Great Britain having that “special relationship”, their respective leaders aren’t quite getting along in their most recent incarnation. On one side there’s English PM Sam Clarke, a stand up, but down beat guy who sees leadership as a necessary burden that requires sacrifice – on the other there’s former movie star turned Commander in Chief Will Derringer who seemingly regards his responsibilities as not unlike the life of an action hero on the big screen, only with more decisions. Both in their own way want to make the world a better place, but their opposing world views mean that tempers flare with only days to go until the NATO summit.
In an attempt to heal a rapidly expanding rift, both leaders find their trusted advisors pushing them to play nice for the cameras and that maybe Sam and Will should catch a lift to Trieste together in Air Force One, but unbeknownst to most, notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Gradov has something of a personal bone to pick with both leaders and launches an audacious assault on the famous transport, bringing it down harder than an iron hot air balloon. Surviving the flaming crash, both Will and Sam realise they’ve wound up in Belarus and presumed dead by the rest of the world. However, while this rather perilous turn up for the books should bring them closer together, they wind up arguing even more as their lives end up in more danger with every turn they make. Thankfully, with all the compromised safe houses and dedicated assassins they have to deal with, watching their back is MI6 Agent and Sam’s old flame Noelle Bisset who aims to get them to that NATO meeting in one piece before Gradov’s masterplan tears the established friendships of the global organisation apart.
Of late, you may have noticed that my feelings towards streaming premiering action flicks have soured rather dramatically. While I won’t go quite as far to admit that they seem like a concerted attempt to murder cinema even at the best of times, but even if they are of a slightly higher standard, they still prove to be unbelievably derivative. I mean, not even a couple of months ago (April to be exact) Amazon released G20, another movie that saw a super empathetic President go head to head with nefarious terrorists at a world summit and while the tones between the fairly serious Viola Davis action thriller and a buddy movie that basically slaps Lethal Weapon and Air Force One in a blender, the similarities are frankly undeniable.
Thankfully, Heads Of State actually proves to quite fun in a predictably daffy way that manages to coast past its sillier aspects thanks to the charisma of its leads, a surprisingly hefty supporting cast and the fact that it’s director confidently knows his way around a big dumb action scene. Lest we forget, Naishuller not only gave us the frenetic first person shooter, Hardcore Henry, but he also delivered the middle-aged maulings of Nobody and his eye for broad, perky but hard hitting sequences certainly pays off. Understanding that the secret to a good action brawl, gunfight, or car chase is the little details that build up to the big stuff, Naishuller loads his sequences with little moments here and there like a quick look of realisation or a split second cut to a trigger pull to establish almost a musical rhythm to the expansive carnage. It not only helps make the action feel nimble and punchy, but it keeps the humour ticking along nicely as the stunt team cook up lots of gnarly deaths for the bad guys
Of course, the main selling point here is two bad guys turned good guys as The Suicide Squad alumni of Elba and Cena unite again to deliver slightly less toxic jibes as the disgruntled world leaders. There’s a feeling that both men are kind of playing up to some past concepts as Elba’s more gruff, world weary PM gives us a slight hint at what his Bond could have been – meanwhile, you can’t have John Cena’s muscle bound, “gym strong”, actor turned POTUS without realising that for many years, action guru Arnold Schwarzenegger was up to his swollen biceps in politics and you have to believe that Cena’s super positive – if fairly naive – prez is a sizable nod to that. Beyond that, both leads are also weathered veterans of various action franchises (not only have both been around the superhero block, both have shown up throughout the Fast & Furious saga – although curiously never at the same time) and they’re backed up by Priyanka Chopra Jonas who seems to be enjoying brawling with heavies and dodging CGI explosions more than her co-stars.
Joining her is quite an impressive collection of actors filling in some of the minor roles with Jack Quaid – who’s already gotten blood and gunpowder residue on his hands this year from Novocaine – on typical show stealing duty as an over zealous CIA officer and Carla Gugino as the vice president. However, if I’m being honest, the second a certain plot twist showed up, the casting made it pretty obvious what was about to go down next and aside from some simplistic plotting, some might find that the movie’s reliance on painful puns a little too hard to take.
Still, Cena, Idris and Jonas are blatantly having fun, Naishuller seems to be utterly aware of what kind of movie he’s supposed to be making (his needle drops in particular are impressively on point) and the action beats more than make up for any moments where the script starts to falter. However, while I wouldn’t say it’s turned my opinion around on action comedies that debut on streaming (it’ll take a lot more than Cena getting a faceful of sheep nipples to achieve that), it’s certainly more watchable than most.
Hail to the chiefs? Nearly.
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